Need HELP with my New 10D

[shemmy]

Hello everyone, I am new to the page and sight.

I have been taking pictures for a long time with a Canon A2 and I just upgraded to a new Canon 10 D with lots of options and a new 28-135 I/S ultrasonic lenses, nice:)

But, thus far I must be doing something wrong when taking pictures? there has to be some helpful hints or publications out there besides the manual that give you pointers on how to use it the best? I do not think the automatic settings do the pictures justice?

I went and shot my little brothers championship football game this week and was dissappointed with the outcome. I set it on the sports mode and tried to raise the ISO to capture more light but everything came out distorted. not anyones problems but my own.

All I am asking for is a good way to learn this thing? I am heading to Seattle next week and I want to be on top of this thing. Plus I bought the new Canon printer I906 which is awesome thus far, if the pictures I take are more crisp.

thanks for all the help and direction. I need to make this investment pay off. What about an on line class?

john

[defordphoto]

Shemmy: Post a sample photo please so we can attempt to resolve your problem. Also, shooting in Sports Mode should produce extremely crisp photos. Those preset modes can come in very handy.

[Jesper]

Were you hand-holding the camera? If so, did you switch on the Image Stabilizer?

With the 28-135 IS USM lens, you should switch off IS if you put the camera on a tripod. Also, if you're panning or otherwise deliberatly moving the camera while making a photo, switch off IS, otherwise it will try to work against your movement.

[Roger_Cavanagh]

John,

I'd suggest you don't use the so-called "Easy Shooting" zones, they take too many decisions for you and as you've found the results are not always good.

I recommend you start experimenting with the shutter and aperture priority modes on the camera - Tv and Av on the dial.

Shutter priority means you set the shutter speed and the camera works out the correct aperture. Aperture priority is the other way round.

One thing you have to remember with DLSRs is that you must be careful how slow you make the shutter speed - too slow and you get camera shake, which causes picture blur. A good rule of thumb with the 10D is to multiple the focal length by 1.6 (2 if you're being conservative) and treat that as a decimal part of a second. For example, if FL is 100mm, then 100 x 1.6 = 160 -> 1/160 sec. The nearest setting on the camera is 1/180 sec.

The lens you have is image-stablised, which means there is a mechanism inside the lens that counteracts shake. This is worth 2 stops, so instead of 1/180 sec, you can get away with 1/45 sec. (Multiply or divide by 2 for every stop up or down.) Of course, you still must use good technique to hold the camera still.

As Jesper has pointed out, panning the camera for action shots will confuse the IS mechanism. Some lens can cope, but yours should have the IS turned off and you must use a fast shutter speed with higher ISO if necessary.

Regards,